Threats

The future of Cabo Pulmo is being threatened by several touristic and residential projects, which are planned to be built near the reef. Perhaps the most controversial of them all haVE been:

Cabo Dorado:

The main investment for the development of the project comes from Chinese and American funds, with the support of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation. Cabo Dorado states that it is linked to a binational agreement held by the presidents of Mexico and China to strengthen the economic and commercial collaboration between both countries.

Cabo Dorado lays out the building of a new Chinese-Mexican “ecotouristic” city with a total 22,503 bedrooms, spread/arranged in: 9 hotels, 6,141 houses, 4,380 commercial facilities, restaurants, services, and condominiums; 100 service rooms for infrastructure and equipment. Besides, it is part of the plan to build a landing strip, a 14-km aqueduct, 2 golf camps and another one for practice, a commerce center, a cultural and educational center, a technology museum, a scientific research and studies center, a high-performance sports center, a well-being center, a visitors’ center and three beach clubs. All of this in 3,770 hectares.

Cabo Dorado is authorized to extract 4.8 million cubic meters of water annually. Out of this amount, 4.5 million come from the groundwater of Santiago, the only reserve that provides water to the existing villages.

Additionally, 315 thousand cubic meters will be extracted annually from the underground water of Cabo Pulmo, whose users are already facing water shortage.

Our concern is not only environmental, but also social, because we want this region to experience a comprehensive development, without risking the welfare of the local communities and the environment’s health.

Cabo Cortés:

In 2008, the Spanish enterprise Hansa Urbana tried to build in Cabo Pulmo a huge touristic project called Cabo Cortés.

This mega-project planned to build 30 000 rooms (in hotels and houses), 3 golf camps, and an airport only a few meters north of Cabo Pulmo. It is hard to understand the intention of building such facilities beside a fragile reef ecosystem.

Luckily and thanks to thousands of citizens, who signed to reject such project, the Mexican government revoked the environmental authorization, leaving without effect this humongous touristic project.